Best Fuji lenses you can buy in 2015

Best Fuji lenses

Fuji’s latest X-series compact system cameras are full of retro charm yet bang up to date. Up-market models like the X-T1, X-T10 and X-E2 are smart, stylish and sophisticated in their own right. But just like any other system camera, you need top-quality lenses to get the best out of them. That’s where Fuji’s ‘XF’ line of premium optics comes into play.

The current line-up includes both prime and zoom lenses, all with a really pro-grade feel to their build and handling. Construction typically includes metal rather than plastic lens barrels and mounting plates, while ‘R’ type lenses add intuitive aperture rings. Some are WR (Weather-Resistant), have OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and fast LM (Linear Motor) autofocus. Let’s start with the ideal general-purpose lens and work our way down the XF shopping list.

Covering everything from generously wide-angle viewing to short telephoto reach, the constant-aperture design of this lens gives you good creative control over depth of field and enables fast shutter speeds under dull lighting. A consequence of the fairly fast f/2.8 aperture is that the front elements need to be quite large and the lens itself is fairly bulky. However, handling is excellent and, as with our other featured lenses, there’s an aperture ring with one-third click stops and a smooth, precise fly-by-wire manual focus ring. Highlights include top-quality glass and coatings, a fast twin linear motor autofocus system and weather-seals. Sharpness and contrast are excellent, colour fringing is minimal and distortions are amazingly well controlled for a standard zoom.

The most logical follow-on to the 16-55mm zoom is this 50-140mm lens. It gives a classic telephoto zoom range equivalent to about 70-200mm on a full-frame camera, complete with a fast and constant f/2.8 aperture. Typical for this type of lens, zoom and focus are completely internal, so the overall physical length is fixed. Bonuses include a four-stop optical image stabilizer and a tripod mounting foot that keeps the lens well balanced during both landscape and portrait orientation shooting. Autofocus practically snaps into position, thanks to a triple linear motor system and, continuing the main attraction of the 16-55mm lens, image quality is superb in terms of sharpness and contrast, along with negligible levels of colour fringing and distortions throughout the zoom range.

So-called ‘nifty fifty’ lenses for D-SLR cameras are typically bulky and plasticky. This lens gives practically the same effective focal length of about 50mm, for a standard viewing angle and natural perspective. It’s comparatively tiny but is nevertheless beautifully crafted with all exterior parts being made from metal. Superior handling benefits from the usual XF-series aperture ring and fly-by-wire focus ring. Despite being such a dinky little lens, there’s very little vignetting (darkened image corners) even at the widest aperture of f/2. Contrast and centre-sharpness are also impressive at this aperture, although you need to stop down to f/5.6 for similarly superb sharpness in image corners. Autofocus is virtually soundless but very quick.

So-called ‘nifty fifty’ lenses for D-SLR cameras are typically bulky and plasticky. This lens gives practically the same effective focal length of about 50mm, for a standard viewing angle and natural perspective. It’s comparatively tiny but is nevertheless beautifully crafted with all exterior parts being made from metal. Superior handling benefits from the usual XF-series aperture ring and fly-by-wire focus ring. Despite being such a dinky little lens, there’s very little vignetting (darkened image corners) even at the widest aperture of f/2. Contrast and centre-sharpness are also impressive at this aperture, although you need to stop down to f/5.6 for similarly superb sharpness in image corners. Autofocus is virtually soundless but very quick.

Shooting extreme close-ups can become a strange fascination. A good macro lens can reveal almost microscopic levels of detail that are invisible to the naked eye, or turn garden bugs into giant alien invaders. Despite its remarkably compact build, Fuji’s 60mm lens gives a somewhat classic effective focal length of 90mm, favoured by many macro photographers. The lens only has a 0.5x maximum magnification ratio instead of the more usual full 1.0x but, taking the APS-C format image sensor of X-series cameras into account, the scope for enlargement when reviewing images on screen or in print is epic. It can also double up as a decent portrait lens, if the 56mm f/1.2 is beyond your budget.

There’s a lot to be said for having a fast, short telephoto prime lens in your kit bag. It gives useful reach for wide-ranging subjects from sports and wildlife to tightly cropped portraits, while enabling fast shutter speeds for freezing the action. With an effective focal length of 137mm and a wide f/2 aperture, this lens really fits the bill. And continuing the ‘fast’ theme, it also has a quad linear motor autofocus system with lightning-quick reflexes. Handling is typically excellent and, while it doesn’t feature the optical image stabilizer of the 50-140mm zoom lens, it’s much smaller and lighter. Image quality is stunning in every respect.